I’ve been coming across more stories than I care to mention concerning the victims of cyberbullying. Suicides. Attempted suicides. Runaways. Dropouts. Figured I’d share this observation with any of you who are victims of cyberbullying.

In the past, bullying was usually limited to a couple of assholes at your school or on the playground. On a sports team, perhaps. Maybe at work. You almost always had to deal with them face to face, and often times, that was hard to do. But.cyberbullying? Come on! Take charge. Never, ever, have you had such an opportunity. There was no BLOCK feature in a face-to-face
confrontation. There was no UNFRIEND option when people were giving you grief. You couldn’t put a bully in the Killfile. But now? With online bullies? If you’ve got a Facebook page and kids are on you for being fat, who you’re dating, how much money your family has, the clothes you wear, if you have a disability.screw ’em. Change your profile. Block anybody and everybody who pisses you off. It’s one thing to have to listen to somebody bullying you if they’re your boss, but on your own Facebook page or on the internet? Are you kidding?

You—I repeat—you control your cyberlife. You can delete the bozos almost as fast as they can change screen names and try bugging you again. The key is to have some guts. Suicide? Take a second and really think about it. That’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It’s giving bullies all the power over you they could ever want. My advice? Piss them off the best way possible. Block them. Delete their posts. Privatize your page(s) and make them jump through hoops to get your approval before they can say a damn word. You know how that frustrates scumbags like the ones you’re dealing with? It’s like turning them down for a date after they finally worked up the courage to ask. It’s like making them work and work and work only to get stiffed in the end by being kicked right back down the stairs every time you unfriend or block them.

Listen, being bullied sucks, there’s no denying it. But why be a quitter? Why give them the ultimate win? You just need to take charge, and skip the nonsense and bullshit, because trust me, that’s all it is. Bullshit.

Cyberbullying is a coward’s way of trying to rattle people these losers feel they’re stronger than. But no matter what they say, you can do things to avoid most (if not all) of it. Once you cut ’em loose, the only way to give them any power is to seek out what they’re writing and saying, and since they’re assholes.why should you care?

If you’re being bullied in person or online, let somebody know. But if it’s persistent, and persistent enough to get you depressed or even considering doing something drastic, then stop right there. Take a deep breath, get behind your keyboard, start changing the controls and settings on all your online profiles and accounts, and fight back with the tools none of us had
before everyone owned a computer. Recognize the bullies for who they are-pitiful bottom-feeders. Keep that in mind, and keep on keeping on. Time doesn’t always fly by, but it passes faster than you think. People move. They graduate from school. They go on to other things. So will you.so long as you don’t let them take you out of the game. Ignoring trolls and cyberbullies drives them nuts. They can’t win if you don’t let them, and if you don’t even let them play the game by taking control of your cyberlife? That’s going to torture them.

There’s a song I like a lot, by a band called Faderhead. Take a listen. It’s a little heavy, but give it a chance even if it’s not your type of music. The final verse is one you should pay attention to. It goes:

And I roll along my way With a fistful of “Fuck You” And I tell you “You can’t stay” With a fistful of “Fuck You” I keep fighting everyday With a fistful of “Fuck You” The game of life is played With a fistful of “Fuck You”

I think this should be the country’s official anti-bullying anthem. Sometimes, you have to fight. And keep fighting, or people will walk all over you. Best to tell them they can’t stick around, and boot them from your cyberlife. Just wait. Once you start to pile up a few wins? Everything will begin to change. Good luck, and do not—under any circumstances—let the
dirtbags win.